Actually, he’s probably a buck. A stag, I find out, is older and grander than an eight-point buck, which is what I’m talking about here. But “Mystery Buck” sounds like a tv game show, so I’m sticking with my title. This time of year the deer stop traveling in twos and threes and start bunching up into herds for the winter. I was watching several does and fawns in the back yard when I spotted the buck, moving among the trees. He had a lovely set of antlers, so I reached for my camera, meaning my phone, which, rare for me, was in my pocket. Most everyone else smiled for the camera, but the buck kept his head in the canopy. Bet he was training that little guy beside him.

I went back inside, and a little later here they all came, munching their way through the huge crop of fallen crabapples on my front lawn. The buck, in the manner of bucks, was standing a little way behind them – anything that wanted to chase the herd would have to deal with him first – so I went to get my camera, meaning my phone, no longer in my pocket. By the time I had it in hand the buck had once again positioned himself in full view except for his antlers. This went on for some time – I moved, he moved, and always the leaves came between us.

So what was going on? Was this really random motion, or did this guy have some reason why he didn’t want me to see his rack? Did he have an exclusive deal with Shutterstock? An instinct to avoid trophy hunters? Had he heard that cameras “shoot”? I began to see how easy it was to fall prey to conspiracy theories: surely the buck had no interest in whether I got a great photo or not, but after several thwarted efforts it began to feel deliberate on his part.

I kept taking pictures anyway hoping he’d miscalculate, and backed away to try for a better angle around the foliage. This was the best I managed: out of the trees, just barely; further away so having to be cropped to within an inch of its life, sacrificing resolution; and only a profile, not a full head-on shot. You’ll have to take my word that in addition to the four antler points you can see, there are four more on the other side. And yes, they are sort of fuzzy right now – still covered with “velvet” until he destroys some of my saplings, using them to scrape it off. Seems like the least he could do is drop those antlers in my yard come antler-dropping season. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ll keep you posted.